I'll be at Maker Faire in San Francisco this weekend.  I'm excited about my Craft Lounge presentation Simple Crochet Flowers Saturday from 4:00 - 5:00 PM.  Woohoo!  Bring your own crochet hook and yarn and I'll show you how to whip up some little blooms.

I'm not sure how busy it'll be or how many people will show up.  I'm totally open to answering any crochet questions you might have for me.  Or just come craft with me for an hour.  By 4 PM, I know I'll be ready to sit down and relax!

I just got back from a road trip to Los Angeles.  The last real vacation we took was 5 years ago and it was so good ... relaxing, renewing, centering, magical, delightful, brilliant ... to get away from day-to-day life for more than a day or two.

It made me realize that I need more wide open spaces in my life.  Physical, mental, and spiritual.  I'm determined to create more personal space.  The spaces are where things can really happen.

I made an attempt at doing some crafty shopping.  These are 10 for a dollar zippers in 10 different colors and a selection of sizes.

Here's some carefully selected ribbon from a cave of rolls that was more than a little overwhelming to scuttle about in.

And, even though I live in a city with a Kinokuniya, I made a special trip to Little Tokyo and picked up this book of knitting stitches.

300 glorious knitting stitches.  I already have several crochet stitch dictionaries, so I thought it was time to start the collection of knitting books.

Maybe some day I'll make a project of swatching all the stitches in my various dictionaries.


Right before we left, I was in a panic.  I knew I wanted to take a project with me and all I had going was Helena.  I'm at a critical point in that sweater, so it's not mindless nighttime knitting.  I needed a project!

It was difficult to resist the temptation to buy yarn, but, luckily, it was too late to order anything.  I spied yarn Andrew bought for me two years ago and decided to knit a summery striped sailory sweater with it.  I'll introduce you to it soon.

I even found a quiet moment one afternoon to take my fledgling project to the park near our hotel to do a little knitting.

All of this is just a teeny tiny part of the vacation though ... and, not even the best part.  Not even close.  We had so many magical moments in the city and on a couple forays into the desert.  I can't even begin to catalog them for you.  

I'm going to wait for Andrew to sift through the thousands of photos he took (yes. thousands!) and post them on his site before I talk about our adventures.  I just tried to pick a few choice ones and it was impossible.  I started getting lost in the thumbnails and the stories and the still fresh memories.

It's been nice enough to sit outside and do some knitting lately.  One of my favorite things to do.  It's extra nice that our building has a secluded back yard that no one but me ever uses.  I can sit out there on my blanket and listen to the birds chirping.

Wednesday, May 9th from 5:30-8:30 at the Metreon Dining Terrace 135 Fourth Street (@ Mission) San Francisco.  Everyone welcome!  Bring a project and hang out with us.

This location seems to be working out really well.   I won't be able to make it this week, though, so have a cupcake from Cako for me! ;)

I am so excited about being able to offer the Starling Handbag in French and German.  The translations were done by two amazing people, Ambre and Laura, who volunteered their skills.  I've updated the Starling Handbag Ravelry page and my free downloads page to include the new versions.

This is actually part of a bigger project.  I completely redesigned and recoded my free downloads page.  The updated look and feel is accompanied by a completely new delivery engine that should eliminate the problems some people had trying to get my downloads.  

I figured if I was going to release the writstlet pattern soon, I had to update that page to work for everyone or I would drown under  the "I can't get the pdf" emails once it's out. :)

When I started my Helena, the first thing I needed to do was pick which size to make.  Based on the bust measurement, I needed to make the small.  

I printed out the pattern and started circling everything for the small size to makes sure that all the other measurements that go with that size worked for me.

Here I've circled the lower sleeve width and the neck width measurements for the small.

Here I've circled the front/back width for the small.  39.5" isn't wide enough for my hips, especially if I have any pants or a skirt on, and I was planning on wearing bottoms with this sweater.  Ha!

I was also planning on making the sweater one motif-stripe longer than the pattern so it would hit me at an even wider part of my hips than the pattern anticipated.  That meant I needed to modify the pattern to be a little wider at the bottom.

As you can see from my note, I decided that I needed to have the bottom opening be 20.5" wide.

This sweater is knit sideways from cuff to cuff, so I was going to need to do some short rows to add width at the hips.  These are my first short rows, ever!

First I figured out that I needed 12 extra rows at the hem - six on each side.  Then I drew the short rows and decided that I would make the first short row 1 motif-stripe tall, the second short row 2 motif stripes tall, and the third short row 3 motif-stripes tall.  This way the width would be gently sloped.

Here's where it was a little tricky - I had to do this in-pattern.  The big line with the arrow and the "3" is the normal row.  It's a wrong side row where I would knit Row 3 of my lace chart.  For the short rows, I had to go backwards on the lace chart to make sure I worked up to Row 3.

I do just the opposite on the other side - taller short rows that decrease each row until I get to the bind off edge.

And it worked!  Here is the first set of short rows to add a little width at the hem.  It's exactly what I was hoping for!

Here's what the edge looks like once a bunch more of the sweater was knit.  I added the white arrow to show you where the edge of the sweater would have been.

Around this point in the sweater, when I was knitting the body, I did some math on the number of rows I needed to complete as I went across.  The pattern says stuff like "knit until it measures X number of inches from the cast on row" but I need an actual number of rows.  

You can't just measure your knitting, that's crazy.  It stretches.  Not to mention the fact that I have to knit a front and back that match so I can sew them together.

And doing that math was when I noticed something totally weird ...

Oh, no!  When I printed the pattern, the extra small and half of the small number didn't print.  When I circled the "19 3/4" thinking it was the small size, it was actually the medium. Look at the photo above to see what I mean about the printing ... how did I miss that it went from 8" to 19.75"?  Ha!

I almost freaked out until I realized that all the small measurements and work I'd done so far was fine.  The only thing that it affected was the body row count, and I hadn't finished the body yet.  Whew!

I bought this case to fit in my project bag and keep all my bits and pieces from getting tangled up in my yarn.  Each project has it's own set of must-have bits.  Here is my knit knit for the Helena.
( 1 ) These are my half-frame +2.0 reading glasses.  I'm officially old. When I got my eyes checked last year I asked the girl if I needed bifocals and she said, "No. When people get old like you, sometimes they just need reading glasses."  Ha ha ... old like me ... erm ... sigh.

What's funny is otherwise my eyes are pretty awesome.  I started wearing glasses at 16 and my near-sighted prescription has barely changed since then.  It's just the close-up bit that doesn't work anymore.  I guess I'm officially mid-sighted now since I can't see near or far.

( 2 ) This is my tiny, hand-drawn, graph-paper chart of the lace pattern with the row numbers written out.  It's a 12-row repeat.  Then, in all my other charts and notes, I refer to the row numbers on the chart and know what the heck I'm talking about.

( 3 ) This is my blocked swatch.  It's so soft!  Softer than my knitting, which is weird, but awesome.  I carry it around to touch it and make other people touch it.  I also measure it a lot to reassure myself that this sweater is totally going to fit after I block it.  Totally.  It's going to fit.  Really really.

( 4 ) A crochet hook to fix dropped stitches, and my pencil to mark off rows on my row chart as I knit.

( 5 ) My row chart for the section that I'm working on.  For each section, I put a number for each row.  Then next to that I put the lace chart number.  If there are increases or decreases, I somehow note that on the appropriate rows.  As I knit, I make a mark next to that row.

For this sweater I'm knitting both halves at the same time.  Sleeve, sleeve.  Neck decrease, neck decrease.  Body, body.  Etc.  So I mark of a forward slash for one sweater half and then complete the X for the other sweater half.

( 6 ) I'm using my Knit Picks Zephyr Acrylic Interchangeable Needles to make this project.  I really love them.  I made the Purple Striped Sweater with them, too.

The first couple of times I switched back and forth between the two halves of the sweater, I moved the whole circular from one to the other (leaving a lifeline in one).  Eventually I realized (duh!) that I could leave the purple circ cable in the knitting and just take off the needle ends.  The purple circles in the photo are the end caps for the cables.

( 7 ) Here is the pattern printed out.  You can see my two color highlighting.  I'm also taking tons of notes on the pages and taping my section charts to the last page when I'm done with that section.

( 8 ) This number is pointing to the clear plastic case.  I got it at Daiso, the Japanese 1 Yen store (which is a $1.50 for us Americans).  It's just slightly smaller than 8.5" x 11" and about 3/4" thick.  You can probably find something similar at the office supply store or craft store near you.

I initially wanted it to keep my printed-out crochet and knitting patterns from getting all wrinkled up in my project bag.  I also liked that it was clear because when I'm outside, it can sometimes be windy and this case won't blow away AND I can read my patterns and charts through the case.  Win-win.

Eventually I noticed that it was a good place to put my needles and hooks, my pencil, my yarn needle, and scissors when I need them.  It's slim so it keeps everything from going to the bottom of my bag.  I also don't have to dig crochet hooks and scissors out of the middle of yarn balls ... which I've had to do before.

When I work on a project at home, I keep this next to me open on the arm of the couch.  When it's time to go somewhere with my project, I just close it and slip it in my bag.  Cake!  No hunting for tools or trying to remember everything.  It's all right there.  Woo hoo!

For my yarn and my project, I use various sizes of zip lock bags.  Oh, so glamorous.

Do you have any project organization tips for toting your project or craft supplies places?

Wednesday, April 25th from 5:30-8:30 at the Metreon Dining Terrace 135 Fourth Street (@ Mission) San Francisco.  Everyone welcome!  Bring a project and hang out with us.